Petitions & Apathy

[ShirakawaKaede]

I saw on Facebook today that one of my relatives (female, before you ask) has put up a Change.org petition for Brian from Family Guy to be brought back. Change.org. Family Guy. FFS.

Isn't it sad that people find the time to sign & share this kind of rubbish, but completely ignore petitions on FGM, DV, anything worth while etc.

Which just goes to show: When it comes to feminism/women's rights etc. (and many other good causes), it's not just attitudes/laws/etc. which have to change, it's the unbelievable apathy...

So how do we get people to care?

I appreciate your point but i think people categorise things under different things. So the friend's petition goes under 'fun and pointless stuff' and you are looking to get them thinking more about 'important world changing stuff'.

Just because it's a petition doesn't make it serious. They just aren't comparable.

Frustrating though.

True - I guess part of what pissed me off is that it was on Change.org - which is really intended for social/political change - but I guess since anyone can start a petition (and I would never argue that that shouldn't be the case) there's nothing to stop people petitioning for stupid stuff like this.

Incidentally, there are seven petitions to bring back Brian from Family Guy. I know, it shouldn't bother me this much!

I certainly like the fun & pointless stuff too! But I can't ignore the serious stuff...

How do you get people to take notice of things which they appear apathetic about/oblivious to (often because they've not been in that particular situation themselves/don't know anyone that has)?

How do you stop the kneejerk "nothing to do with me" reaction?

Apathy and laziness reigns, which in the case of my being pro striptease works well. The 6 SEVs in Leeds were up for renewal in Leeds last week and a grand total of 25 objections were sent in. The fact that 11 objections were exactly the same because of the use of a template is pretty lazy but to quote the Lilith report when Eaves has removed it from their website bothers me as it says some people can't even be bothered to check what they are sending in they just put a signature on it or e-mail it in. And yes Object still have the link to the report on their website which goes to an Eaves 404 error page (or did as of yesterday).

What does it say when people can't be bothered to think for themselves and let others do it for them? It worries me because of the issues I support FGM, low pay in the UK for women and fair trade for women internationally we sometimes see the same laziness and lack of thinking. Are we women or are we just sheeple (I love that word, my new fav)?

How do you get people to take notice of things which they appear apathetic about/oblivious to?

In the UK, get Simon Cowell or some z-lister to front it up. Otherwise the British populace will remain unmoved.

Yes, it is lazy and detrimental to the cause for people to simply use a template when raising objections. But that is different to signing a petition, where you would not (traditionally, at least) add your personal comments, simply sign to say you agree - we the undersigned... etc.

I have signed FGM petitions in the past but the numbers are usually small which makes me wonder how many people actually are active? Apathy in completing petitions, laziness in sending in objections there seems to be a core issue which is not good for which aspect of feminism interests us.